Post-hole auger



(No Model.)

G. W. GILMOUR.

POST HOLE AUGER.

No. 808,354.- Patented Nov. 25; 1884.

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICEQ GEORGE WV. GILMOUR, OF NEVADA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO

' JOSEPH W. BRANCH, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

POST-HOLE AUGER.

.JPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 308,354, dated November 25, 1884.

Application liled March 19, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE WV. GILMOUR, of Nevada, Vernon county, Missouri, have made a new and useful Improvement in Post- Hole Angers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved To anger; Fig. 2, a viewin perspective of the bit; Fig.3, a view in perspective of the lower end of the stock, and Fig. 4 a view in perspective of that part of the device employed in steadying and feeding the auger.

I 5 The same letters of reference denote the same parts. 1

This improvement relates to the construction of the blade or bit, as it may indifferently be termed, so as to increase its spring or elasticity and reduce the liabilityof fracture; to the construction of the means for steadying and feeding the auger, whereby the same shall serve to secure the bit to the stock, thus reducing the number of parts and simplifying the construction of the anger without decreasing its efficiency, all as hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

A represents the stock of the auger. At its upper end it is shaped to form or is provided 0 with a handle, and to this end it preferably is provided with the tubular cross head, a, through which a handle (not shown) may be inserted. At its lower end the stock is shaped to receive the bit B, and so that the bit can be readily attached to and detached from the stock, and when attached be prevented from turnlng around upon the stock. To this end the stock is provided with a shoulder, which is preferably in the form of the square projection a, Fig. 3, and above the projection, at a the stock is larger in diameter than the proj ection'a, to enable the stock to have a bearing upon the upper side of the bit. Below the projection a the stock is extended toform or is provided with the threaded end (4 The bit B for lifting and removing the earth is a thin plate of metal, preferably circular in form. At its center it has an opening, I), corresponding to and adapted to lit the projection a upon the stock. The bit is formed by means of a slit, 1), which extends from the periphery of the blades inwardly toward the opening I), and at its inner end branches to form the slits b If. By preference the slit 1) is concentric with the stock, and terminates at the ends in circular holes I). By so constructing the disk the width of the cutting-blade is uniform, and its elasticity or spring is increased in the line of the applied power, so that there is less danger of fracture when stones or other obstructions are struck. Moreover, by curving the slits I) ,and causing them to terminate in the holes b any tendency of transverse or extended cracking of the bit is avoided. The bit is completed by sharpening the edges b b. of the slit b, so as to form cuttingedges, and bending the plate, so as to bring 'the edges b I) out of line with each other and out of and respectively above and be neath the plane of the remainder of the plate, and substantially as shown in Figs. 1, 2. This not only forms a hit, but a reversible one, for the bit can be used either side up, and according as the bit is attached the lower edge, If, for the time-being is the cuttingedge, and the other of the edges 1) b is meanwhile being sharpened. The blade is attached to the stock by passing the projection a into the opening I), and then screwing a nut onto the threaded end a of the stock, and so as to secure the bit So I upon the projection a and against the shoulder a This nut, however, is made to serve another purposeto feed the auger, and also, preferably, to steady it. To this endthe nut O is provided with the spiral points 0 c, which 8 5 enter and loosen the ground in advance of the bit, and thereby facilitate the action of the bit. The points curve in the same direction as the edges 1) If, respectively, and the threads upon the end a and nut run in such direction 0 that in operating the anger the tendency is to tighten the nut. To steady the auger, the nut is furnished with the center point, 0, which projects downward between the points 0 c.

I do not herein, broadly, claim a reversible 5 bit for earth-angers, as the same has been formed heretofore by combining two semicircular disks; but

1. A blade or cutter for earth-angers, con- I00 sisting of a single disk of plate metal having a radial slit bifurcatedv at its inner end, the

edges of the radial slit being turned out of line to form the cutters, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

2. Abit or blade for eartli-augers, having a slit concentric with the stock-socket and a radial slit extending from the concentric slit to the periphery of the disk, the edges of the radial slit being turned out of line to form the cutters, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

3. A bit for earth-angers, having a slit concentric with the stock-socket, which slit terminates in holes or perforations, and a radial slit which extends from the concentric slit to the periphery of the disk. substantially as and for the purposes specified.

4. In an earth-auger, the combination, with a stock, of a blade or cutter consisting of a 13131364116131 disk having a radial slot which forms the cuttingtongues, and a nut for securing the blade to the stock, said nut having the spiral feeders, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

5. The combination, in an earth-auger, of a stock, a detachable and reversible disk-bit, and the nut having the centering-point and spiral feeders, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

6. The earth-auger shaft having the angular seat and threaded end, in combinationwith the bit having an angular opening and the feeder having the threaded center, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature, in presence of two witnesses, this 3d day of March, 1884.

I GEORGE WV. GILMOUR.

itnesses:

PAUL BAKEWEL M. T. JANUARY. 

